Sports Blogs

Game 1: Houston Baptist

First off, junior guard David Cubillan has apparently recovered from his Achilles' strain, and is expected to play.

As far as Houston Baptist, the Huskies are in the midst of a seven-year transitional period from NAIA to NCAA Division I. They competed at the NCAA Division I level until 1989.

It was Buzz Williams who recommended the Golden Eagles schedule the Huskies last year -- prior to replacing Tom Crean. He's now second-guessing the decision a bit, because of his relationships with some of the people in the Houston Baptist program.

"I wouldn’t have scheduled the game if I knew I was going to be the head coach," he said. "(Mike) Broeker was looking for some games to schedule, and Coach (Crean) asked me if I knew anybody. I know a lot of guys that coach at schools that need guarantee games."

Williams' ties to the program are interesting.

"The way it started was when I was at Colorado State, we recruited Michael Morris, who’s the oldest son of Chris Morris, who played at Auburn, played in the NBA for 11 years. Then we also recruited and signed his younger brother, Sean Morris," Williams recounted. "So we signed Sean and the following year I didn’t get to coach him, which probably worked out good. I went to Texas A&M. Then when Coach Layer left Colorado State, Sean came with me to New Orleans, and he had to redshirt two years ago. Then when I left New Orleans to come here as an assistant, Sean wasn’t going to stay, so I put him at Houston Baptist because I’ve known the coach there a long time and obviously Sean’s from there."

The Huskies do feature some true talent, according to Williams.

"I’m familiar with their roster. They have 10 seniors on their team; six of them are Division I transfers, four of them are junior-college transfers," he said. "I can assure you it’s not your typical home opener at the Bradley Center. They’re a very talented team. Gordon Watts was a top-100 player. Signed at Boston College and then went to Purdue, was really good at Purdue and then left. Emanuel Willis played prep-school ball in Mississippi, signed with USC out of high school and then transferred to Auburn, and then left Auburn.

"Coach (Ron) Cottrell’s been very smart because they’ve been NAIA, but they knew when they were going to be Division I. So he’s taken a ton of transfers like Sean Morris. Last year he was immediately eligible because he left a Division I institution and went NAIA -- when you drop down, you’re immediately eligible -- so he’s taken transfer after transfer after transfer, and when they go from NAIA to Division I, they’re automatically eligible. It’s not your typical first game. They’re good."

As far as the Huskies' style of play, Williams said they like to get up and down the court.

"They play really fast." he said. "Their point guard is probably a lot smaller and faster than anybody in here. Gordon Watts could probably play in nearly every league in the country. Emanuel Willis and Gordon Watts have played in four different BCS leagues. Sean Morris went to the Mountain West Conference out of high school. I don’t know that they necessarily compare to anybody in our league, but they have talent, they have experience, they play fast, and when they throw the ball to Gordon Watts or Emanuel Willis, they get a lot of work done."

Houston Baptist also plays at Villanova, at Iowa State and at Ohio State, and, interestingly, has a home-and-home scheduled with UW-Green Bay.